The Role of a Ganker
Vern Style Definition of a Ganker The term 'ganker' is widely used, and for good reason. It is very hard to give a strict definition to the term ganker because some players are better at ganking than other players are, and some players are so bad with the heroes designed for ganking that their heroes no longer become gankers for them. The true definition of a ganker is a hero whose skillset and primary job during the game can be played in a way where he/she is very useful towards aiding another teammate in the killing of his/her opponent lane hero/heroes. Rules of Successfully Playing this Role In order to successfully play this role, you must follow these rules: *Assess the lanes and their heroes to make good judgment calls about which lanes you should attempt to gank. *Receive some sort of notice from the teammate who's lane you are going to gank that he/she will also participate before you attempt to execute. *Take the shortest approach, not the 'sneakiest'. Any decent opponent will just run away after you spend an extra 15 seconds trying to get into position. *Pick the right skills to do the job. (~not stats btw.) *Know when to abort and stop the chase. Even for a ganker, a death is not worth a kill EVER. *Make SURE you have enough mana before attempting the gank. (~and make sure you don't waste your mana during the gank too on unnecessary spells.) Early Game Items There are a few items that you will need throughout your ganking adventure. The most important of these items is boots of speed. The sooner you get boots of speed, the less you have to rely on getting a lucky haste, and that means the more useful you are. When you attempt ganks w/o boots, the enemy will see you coming from a mile away, and escape before you are able to get your skills off to gank them. Along with this, if you come short on dmg and your enemy has a few hp left after you've depleted your mana pool, chances are he will escape unless you have boots. Second, based on your hero, you may opt to get a stout shield. As an example, bristleback would have a use for this item, if he decided to be a lane ganker. However, stout shield is very situational, and a safer bet is to just go bracers, wraiths or nulls. These items will keep your HP high enough for better chase survival or failed gank attempts along with increasing your mana pool for constant attempts at ganking. ~drewedit: file:wand.jpg - don't get this. If you gank successfully, you will get at MOST one charge. Opt for real regen, like file:clarity.jpg or file:salve.jpg Mid Game Items A ganker should be getting items that will aid them in doing their job... which is aiding their teammates to destroying the enemy hero in their lane. You can achieve this with many different items. I will review some of the items that will help you achieve this. #Burst Damage: file:dagon.jpg Large amount of damage all at once, reduces the need to chase. #Mana Pool efficiency/effectiveness: file:arcane.jpg Useful to continuously gank, or to replenish the mana pool of the heroes' lane you are helping to gank in order to successfully gank. #Instant Position/Chasing: file:kelen.jpg Dagger will help for heroes who's skills need to be used at a close range in order to be effective, like Lina, Tiny, or Lesh. Also useful if you're just out of range for your disable or killing blow, and you use this to get in range. #Force positioning: file:Force_Staff.jpg With this, you can force the opponent in the lane that you are ganking into a bad position to where you and your teammate can successfully gank him/her. Also allows that extra range that Kelen's Dagger would supply. #Invisibles: file:dust.jpgDust does wonders for ganking those that can instantly go invisible, like clinkz or weaver. To Be Continued...